How to Use Metadata to Maximize Data Usefulness

Metadata, or detailed information about data collections, are crucial for maximizing their usefulness. They allow users to understand and use the data without needing to contact the data producers. Good metadata standardize data descriptions, improve understanding, facilitate searches, and enhance web display.

At ICPSR, metadata are created primarily from information provided by data producers and metadata specialists. When submitting data to ICPSR, provide at least the following information:

  • A title, including a short description, location, and time period covered, for example, “Aging in Women, United States, 2005-2006”
  • Project description, including goals, main topics, and methodology
  • Principal investigator (PI) names and organizational affiliations, with persistent identifiers such as ORCIDs and ROR IDs where available
  • Time period covered by the data
  • Geographic locations covered by or represented in the data
  • Funding source(s) and grant number(s)
  • Subject terms to describe the data, taken from the ICPSR subject thesaurus
  • Project/study website, if available
  • Publications that describe or analyze the data, if available

Depending on how the data were collected, further information might be needed, such as:

  • Unit of analysis (who or what is being studied)
  • Sample description
  • Universe description
  • Information about weights
  • Data source(s)

Please review the ICPSR Metadata Documentation Portal to learn more about the study-level metadata to include with your data deposit.

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